Man admits to “being stupid,” accused of posing as 15-year-old to talk to 13-year-old girl

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HALES CORNERS (WITI) -- You've heard the phrase "there's an app for that." The apps have names like Tinder, FourSquare and Link Messenger. They are free, and can be downloaded to any smartphone -- and apps like these can help you meet people in your geographic area. Police in Hales Corners say a 36-year-old man used an app to find and communicate with a 13-year-old girl. He is now facing a criminal charge.

A 36-year-old Milwaukee man whom Hales Corners police say was portraying himself as a 15-year-old boy now faces a felony charge of "use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime." The accused is Floyd Sauve.

Police say they began their investigation into this case on September 27th. Sauve allegedly used the Link Messenger application for Android -- and engaged a 13-year-old girl in conversation beginning on September 2nd.

"The subject purposefully portrayed his age as 15 to gain access to those individuals," Hales Corners detective Justin Landry said.

A criminal complaint says Sauve called himself "Looker Looking" on the app. After chatting with the girl via the app, police say Sauve admitted he is 36. The criminal complaint says Sauve suggested nude photos.

Using his smartphone, officials say Sauve set up a meeting with the victim at the Hales Corners Library. The victim met him twice. During the meetings they met at the library and went to Whitnall Park and the Hales Corners McDonald's.

Police say the girl's mother got suspicious about where her daughter was, and that's when the girl told her mother about the smartphone app and the man. The girl's mother then went to police.

On October 6th, members of the Hales Corners Police Department assumed the victim’s identity using her cell phone. A detective sent a message to the suspect and eventually arranged a meet at the Hales Corners Library. At about 6:00 p.m., officers met with the suspect and arrested him. At the time of his arrest, Sauve had a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson M&P Pistol in his waistband. In his vehicle, officials say he had two more fully loaded magazines, three knives and a handcuff key.

Police confiscated these items from Sauve

Officials say Sauve was cooperative with police and admitted to sending the messages and meeting with the victim. In the criminal complaint against Sauve, he told police he was "being stupid." He was taken to the Milwaukee County Jail, where he remains in custody on $50,000 bail.

If convicted, Sauve faces up to 40 years in prison and $100,000 in fines. He is due back in court on Tuesday, October 21st -- for his preliminary hearing.

Police say this case serves as another warning for parents.

"Parents need to know. You got to go through your child's smartphone. What kind of applications are on the smartphone? New applications are coming out every day. We're trying to catch up to the technology that's out there. Fortunately we intervened before anything bad happened, but it's still a scary situation," Hales Corners Detective Justin Landry said.

Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.

Felicia

JC

Adults and young children now and days… hope he suffers the consequences of his actions but I hope she does as well cause that little girl should have know better when he told her he was 36 it should have ended there..

I know this guy he was a family friend for over 10+ years. It goes to show that you TRUELY never know a person for what they truly are. This is kind of like finding out someone has died. Its going to take a long time to take this all in. RIP Floyd.

Always More to the Story

I know Floyd and can only guess that he got swept away in some fantasy and it landed him in this mess. Of course I don’t agree with whatever was going on with regard to pursuing the girl romantically, but I really would never believe that he’d have any malicious intent. The spread of weapons depicted above is pretty standard for him. He carries this everyday, everywhere – and my hope is that it won’t be interpreted to show that he intended to do something with them specifically related to whatever he was pursuing with this teenager. The slant of this article is clearly “parents, watch what your children are up to” so it sensationalizes the fact that he had his gun and knives along, but it doesn’t mention is that since he was working as an armed security guard he’s conscientious and properly trained and licensed. I’m saying this because as a mother myself if it were my kid, I would be at least a bit relieved to hear that having all this stuff in his possession at the time of the arrest was just coincidental, and not assume it was some elaborate plan to harm their daughter.

I agree with you as someone who had known Floyd since the 90’s. He always carried all those weapons on him. He has a cc licence. As a mother also I never would have thought Floyd would have done what he did but I know for a fact he never would have used any of his gear on anyone.